Sun Life Financial reported a fourth-quarter profit of $419.6 million on Wednesday.
On a per-share basis, the Toronto-based company said it had profit of 65 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 73 cents per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 63 cents per share.
The financial services company posted revenue of $4.17 billion in the period.
For the year, the company reported profit of $1.79 billion, or $2.78 per share. Revenue was reported as $15.1 billion.
Sun Life shares have dropped 13% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $27.26, a fall of 19% in the last 12 months.
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The insurer’s group retirement services had total sales of $2.2 billion for the fourth quarter, compared to $3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 which included a single large retained case, according to the report.
It said the total sales for group retirement services were driven by strong defined benefit solutions sales of $898 million, pointing out it continued to innovate in the defined benefit space with a $530 million annuity transaction. The total also included pension rollover sales of $687 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, up from $481 million in the fourth quarter of 2014.
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Sun Life’s group benefits business had sales of $78 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $209 million in the previous year due to a significant large case win in the fourth quarter of 2014. As a result of overall growth in net sales, business in-force of $9.1 billion was up 6% in the year compared to 2014.
“Our strong fourth quarter capped off a successful year of growth and momentum for Sun Life,” said Dean Connor, president and CEO of Sun Life Financial, in a news release. “In 2015, we achieved underlying net income of $2.3 billion, surpassing our 2015 financial objective of$1.85 billion and ended the year with assets under management of $891 billion.
“In 2015, our clients received approximately $14 billion in claims and benefits payments. Our clients need us now more than ever, and we will continue to find new and innovative ways to provide them with the right products and solutions to achieve lifetime financial security.”
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